-the act of gaining revenge at a rate of at least 2.54 times greater to that of standard revenge and 1.61 that of standard vengeance.
-while revenge is [best] served cold and vengeance is served hot revengeance is often seen served with Cajun with a side of onion rings and often dumplings in the Orient[Source: Urban Dictionary]

These are just two unofficial definitions for the strange word in the title of Konami's upcoming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a game that was being made by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima's Kojima Productions before it was shifted to the Bayonetta and MadWorld people, Platinum Games.

Advertisement

The game's hero is the cyborg ninja Raiden. His revengeance cannot be defined by Urban Dictionary.

Beaten to a pulp by a rival cyborg gang early in the game, he goes after them. He goes on a quest, and, well, Yuji Korekado, creative director at Kojima Productions, wouldn't reveal too much of the story in an interview last week. What he would say is that even though revenge and vengeance are prevalent themes of Metal Gear Rising, it isn't a dark story. It's also a game in which its powerful hero hit hards.

Revengeance gives players a lot of free choice and decision, especially when it comes to combat. Put your hands on a controller and it becomes pretty clear that Rising is both a Metal Gear title and a definite work of Platinum. Under the player's control, Raiden attacks with a slow, heavy, and perhaps even methodical pace. Even though we have an overpowered cyborg with a katana that can cut through anything, the idea of revenge means taking time to do it right, even in simple hand-to-hand combat. Even faster actions carry a lot of weight. While Raiden can fly through maps, each footfall is like a rhino's. Kick enemy combatants in their heads and a heavy bass sounds as helmets crack. There's power to these moves.

"We felt that there […] needed to have some weight," Korekado said. "For Metal Gear Rising, we wanted the player to get freely everything, but when you get freely everything, you have to feel good about that. We thought adding some weight to these characters…felt like you were actually slashing through something." That heaviness makes the gameplay feel very different from titles like Devil May Cry, because not only can you play it fast, but every hit is satisfying.

But.. when it comes to slashing Raiden's sword in the "free slicing" mode, that weight disappears. Using the right analog stick, players can chop up enemies however they like. It is the only instance, in what has been shown in the game so far, when attacks are light and quick, almost instantaneous.

When Kojima Productions backed away from directly developing the game and handed over those duties to Platinum, they were signaling that this would not be a typical Metal Gear. This isn't your typical stealth title. It hits harder.

"We started working with Platinum Games as a second opportunity," Korekado said, and we thought, 'This time, this is a kind of revenge…we will make it right, we will get this game.' So, in a way, we put that feeling of making a strong comeback in that revengeance."

Revengeance will be out in the U.S. on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 19.